To sack Tevez they would need one player to admit ‘Yes, Tevez refused to play.’

City want rebel Tevez to go as quickly as possible but are not certain they have a cast-iron legal case to sack him.

So they are looking to place him on gardening leave until the January transfer window and off-load him in a half- price deal.

Manager Roberto Mancini said Tevez will never play for the club again after he refused to go on in the second-half of Tuesday night’s Champions League defeat against Bayern Munich.

Tevez denies he refused, says there was a misunderstanding, and City lawyers have been studying evidence and his contract over the last 48 hours.

City are determined to back their manager although are now not convinced they can tear up his contract.

They are worried no City player sitting on the bench with Tevez actually heard him refuse to play in the heated exchanges with Mancini.

To sack Tevez they would need one player to admit ‘Yes, Tevez refused to play.’

Tevez, currently suspended on full £200,000 a week pay, in- sists he never refused to play, only that he didn’t need to warm up when asked.

It led to Mancini shouting at him to ‘ f**k off back to Argentina’ and announcing Tevez was finished.

The disgraced striker has been suspended for two weeks while City conduct an investigation.

But Starsport understands City want to extend Tevez’s ban until January, when the transfer window opens.

Mancini is still furious with Tevez and has told the club’s Abu Dhabi owners he doesn’t want to see the Argentine rebel again.

But FIFA regulations state a club cannot ban a player for a significant amount of time without his permission and City would need to thrash out a deal with Tevez to keep him away from the Etihad Stadium.